Researchers Unveiled New Technique to Convert Plastic Waste into Paracetamol

The research focused on training genetically engineered bacteria to do industrial chemistry using waste materials, such as PET.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have unveiled a new technique by which engineered Escherichia Coli (E. Coli) can convert molecules from recycled plastic bottles into the most commonly used painkiller medicine, acetaminophen, also called paracetamol. The study was published in the scientific journal Nature Chemistry, published by Nature Portfolio.

The research focused on training genetically engineered bacteria to do industrial chemistry using waste materials, such as PET. The study explored whether the Lossen rearrangement chemical reaction could work inside bacteria and be used to turn plastic waste into a pharmaceutical product. Normally, the reaction is done in the labs.

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The researchers tested whether E. coli could handle a Lossen rearrangement reaction inside the cell. For this, strains of E. coli that couldn’t make para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) were fed a molecule designed to rearrange into PABA. They observed growth in bacteria, thus confirming the occurrence of reaction inside the cells.

The same starting molecule was then made from terephthalic acid, a compound derived from post-consumer PET bottles. When the PET-derived molecule was fed to the engineered E. coli, it again supported growth, indicating that plastic waste could be converted into a biologically useful material.

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